The Proposal
by Cheap Trixie
Summary: A one-shot in my little Juice/Clarissa universe. After three years together, Juice is ready to pop the question. But...since it's Juice, nothing ever goes as planned...


**Authors Note: Okay, this is just a quick one-shot that I wrote to detail how Juice and Clarissa got engaged. You probably need to read To The Moon and Back to understand this.**

**Disclaimer: I own Clarissa. Everyone else belongs to Kurt Sutter.**

* * *

_I remember what you wore on that first day_

_You came into my life and I thought hey,_

_You know, this could be something_

_Because everything you do and words you say_

_It all takes my breath away_

_And now I'm left with nothing_

_Maybe it's true, I can't live without you_

_And maybe two is better than one_

_But there's so much time to figure out the rest of my life_

_And you've already got me coming undone_

_And I'm thinking two is better than one_

_-Boys Like Girls_

* * *

**September 2005-**

Juice paced nervously, the same three steps back and forth, in the chapel, waiting for Clay and Jax to join him. He didn't think he'd ever been this nervous in his life. He practically jumped out of his skin when Jax came through the door.

"What's this about, man?" Jax asked. Juice continued to pace.

"I'll tell you when Clay gets here."

Clay arrived less than a minute later and the two men looked at him.

"What's going on?" Clay asked. "Are you in some kinda trouble or some shit?"

"No." Juice had to smile. "No, nothing like that."

"Then why all the cloak and dagger?" Jax asked. "I feel like I'm in a bad movie or something."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Juice replied. "I just didn't want Ris to see us." He took a deep breath. "Look, I know this is gonna seem old-fashion and weird, but you're the two closest men in her life and I wanna get your blessing."

Jax started to smile. "Our blessing for what?" He asked, even though he already knew what Juice was gonna say.

Juice pulled the ring he'd gotten from his grandmother from his cut pocket. It had belonged to his great-great grandmother, who'd brought it from Puerto Rico. "I wanna ask Clarissa to marry me." He said.

Clay grinned. "About damn time, kid." He said, clapping Juice on the shoulder.

Juice looked at Jax. "What do you think about it?" He asked.

Jax considered. "You've been with my sister, what, three years now?"

Juice nodded. "It was three years in July." He said.

"You remember what I told you before your first date with her?" Jax asked.

Again, Juice nodded. "I remember." He said. "And I've kept to it. I've never messed around on her, never hurt her. And I never will." He felt a little embarrassed admitting this to his President and V.P. "I love her. I love Clarissa more than I've ever loved anything or anyone. I wanna spend the rest of my life making her happy."

Jax grinned. "Is that how you're gonna propose?" He asked. Juice looked at him. "Because I gotta say, that was a touching speech."

"So…you're okay with it?" He asked.

Jax slung his arm around Juice's shoulder. "Welcome to the family." He said. "Shit, this means you're gonna be like, my brother-in-law."

"Ha!" Clay laughed. "Looks like I got a new son."

"She hasn't even said yes yet, guys." Juice reminded them. "Fuck, she could shoot me down."

"Unlikely." Clay said. "When you plannin' to ask her?"

"Tonight." Juice replied. "I'm taking her to Italiano."

"Dude, that place is really expensive." Jax told him, thinking of Charming's one upscale restaurant. Juice nodded.

"I know. And I had to make the reservations weeks ago." He sighed. "I just hope that going there doesn't make her suspicious. Speaking of which, you guys gotta keep this quiet."

"What? Come on!" Clay said. "I've gotta at least tell Gemma!"

"And I have to tell Wendy." Jax said. Juice shook his head.

"No." He insisted. "This has to be kept quiet; I don't want her suspecting anything."

Both men promised to keep it a secret, so naturally the rest of the club, along with Gemma and Wendy, knew within the next three hours. If Clarissa heard anything however, she never let on.

It was a little weird; she thought as she got dressed that night, that he was taking her to such a fancy place. In fact, she actually had to borrow a dress from her mother because she had nothing she thought was appropriate to wear.

She eyed herself in the bathroom mirror. The dress she was wearing was an indigo blue, so dark it was nearly black. With the matching heels on, the dress hit her at about mid-thigh. She'd wound her long hair up in a fancy twist and she'd done her makeup carefully.

"How do I look?" She asked Juice. He was standing in front of the mirror in their bedroom, fumbling with his only tie, a bright red thing he'd had for years. He was wearing his only pair of black dress pants and a white button down shirt.

His eyes met hers in the mirror. "You look amazing." He said.

"So do you." She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. With the heels on, she was only a few inches shorter than his five foot eleven. "You clean up well, Mr. Ortiz."

He turned to face her. "Thank you, Miss Teller."

She sat down on the bed. "I'm not sure how long I can handle these heels, baby."

"It's only for a few hours." He told her. "For me?"

How could she resist that face? "All right. I gotta ask though, what's with the dress up? We've never gone to a place this fancy before."

He shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "I just thought it'd be a nice change."

"An expensive change." She said. "Are you sure we can afford it? I mean, after that trip to Queen's last week, we're kinda tapped-."

"Baby, we'll be fine." He told her. He didn't want to admit that he'd been saving for this for awhile and that their trip to Queens had been necessary so he could get the engagement ring.

She looked up at him and he smiled at her. It hit her again how handsome he was, how lucky she was to have him in her life. Three years, going strong, she thought. They'd lived with Gemma and Clay for about eight months and had finally saved up for their own place. Their first apartment had been a tiny; one bedroom place where they'd lived for about a year, before moving into the house they lived in now. It was a bit bigger, but not by much. Juice had been making noises about maybe buying their own home.

"You ready?" Juice's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she looked over at him. He was tying up the laces on his dress shoes.

"Yeah," She jumped up and then teetered over. "Shit. I forgot I had heels on."

Juice steadied her. His heart was thumping ninety to nothing. He was so nervous, he felt sick. How was he going to make it through an entire meal? The ring felt heavy in his pocket. He had it all planned out. Right after they ate, he was going to slip off to the bathroom…or that's what he was going to tell Clarissa. Really, he was going to ask the waiter to slip the ring in a big slice of cheesecake and deliver it to their table.

"You want the top down?" He asked when they got in the Mustang. That's usually how they rode with it, weather permitting. But Clarissa shook her head.

"No way." She said. "It took me an hour to get my hair up like this. I don't want it getting blown around."

"All right." He said and backed down the driveway.

Everything went according to plan at the restaurant. They ate their food, which was delicious, and Juice claimed he had to use the bathroom. He tracked down their waiter and explained what he wanted. Luckily the guy was pretty nice and agreed to do it.

Juice looked at Clarissa when he got back to their table. She'd had about four glasses of champagne and he could tell by the bright spots on her cheeks, she was feeling a little tipsy.

"How about dessert?" He asked her, waving the waiter down. "Cheesecake?"

"Sure thing." The waiter said and winked.

"I feel so fancy." Clarissa told him in a loud whisper. "This is so much fun!"

"I'm glad you're having a good time." He said. He grinned when the waiter sat down the slices of cheesecake. "Um…I have something I need to ask you."

"What's that?" Clarissa asked around a mouthful of the cheesecake. "Shit, this is delicious."

"Well, the thing is…you know I love you a lot and I'd do anything for you." He started, looking down at his hands. "You mean more to me than anyone I've ever met and what I wanted to ask is-." He looked up when he heard her fork scraping her plate. The cheesecake was gone. "Did you eat that whole piece already?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it was really good. You gonna eat yours?"

"Shit." He said, fighting a bizarre urge to laugh. "Shit!"

"What?"

"The ring was in that piece of cheesecake!"

She gave him a weird look. "What ring? Juice, what the hell are you talking about?"

He dropped his head into his hands and then looked back up at her. "Clarissa, I'm trying to propose to you and you ate the ring!"

"What?" She asked again. "Propose? What?"

"I'm trying to ask you to marry me!"

"You are?" Her face broke into a smile. "Really? Where's my ring?"

"You just ate it!" He exclaimed. People were starting to look now. "I had them hide it in the cheesecake as a surprise and you ate it!"

"Well, of course I ate it!" She said. "It was cheesecake!" She looked at him and then down at her stomach. "How're we gonna get it out?"

"Maybe we should go to the ER." He said, signaling for the waiter to bring their check.

Within fifteen minutes, they were at the emergency room at St. Thomas. Luckily, it was busy and a nurse got them back to x-rays pretty quickly.

"There we are." The technician said, holding up the x-ray. "There's your stomach…and there's the ring. Looks like a nice one." He added.

"It was my great-great grandmother's." Juice said, his voice a little faint. "She brought it with her from Puerto Rico when her and my great-great grandfather came to America."

Clarissa looked sheepish. "Sorry." She said to him for what was probably the fiftieth time. "Baby, I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "It's all right." He looked at the technician. "How do we get it out?"

"Nothing we really can do." The technician said. "You just gotta let it pass naturally."

"So…you're telling me I have to poop out my engagement ring?" Clarissa asked and he nodded.

"Pretty much. Just check all your stools till you find it. It should pass within the next three days or so."

He gave them the x-ray and sent them home.

"Where are we going?" Clarissa asked.

"To the clubhouse." Juice replied. "Everyone's waiting there to here if we're engaged or not." He looked at her. "You never gave me an answer, actually."

"Well, you never got around to the question."

He smiled faintly and pulled the car over. "Fair enough." He said. He got out and motioned for her to follow. She did.

Juice got down on one knee on the sidewalk and took her left hand in both of his. "I love you more than anything," He said. "And nothing would make me happier than to make you my wife. Clarissa, will you marry me?"

She felt herself tear up. "Are you sure you want to marry me after this?" She patted her stomach. He grinned and nodded. "All right, then. Yes, Juice, I'll marry you."

She pulled him to his feet and they kissed. "Come on." He told her. "They're waiting for us."

And they climbed back into the Mustang and headed towards the clubhouse to tell their family the news.


End file.
